After winning the series against Australia and New Zealand at home, those who were counting Bangladesh as a hot favorite in this T20 World Cup, a mega event can now realize the difference between playing on a slow pitch and a sporting wicket.
Most of these supporters felt vindicated after Scotland lost their 6th wicket only for 53 runs. They doubted whether Scotland could cross 90 runs. But that was just the beginning of the Scottish show!
Chris Greaves, the hero of this match, playing only his second T20 international, didn’t seem to have less experience than BD players at all. He rescued his team with a quickfire 45 and put on a partnership of 51 runs with Chris Watt.
Then again he held his nerve in the second innings in a spell of 2/19 to suck the life out of Bangladesh.
He said, “We were in a tough situation obviously. It was just a rebuild innings at that stage, and (to) see where we go from there.
“It was unbelievable that I could be that person to really be a part of that.”
It’s very sad for the Bangladeshi fans that their players couldn’t chase down a decent total of 140 runs in just 20 overs. Once again Soumya, Liton failed to prove their abilities in terms of responsibilities.
The frustration was all in the captain’s (Mahmudullah) face and voice after an unexpected six-run defeat. He can blame his batting unit. But did anyone ask him when Bangladesh had control of the match why he brought Afif Hossain in the bowling? Maybe the momentum changed from there for them.
The frustrated captain said, “I am very much frustrated,” Mahmudullah said. “Our batting is a concern. We have to bat better. We have to play aggressive cricket, regardless of the situation. We have a deep batting line-up, with Mohammad Saifuddin at No. 9. We may need to think over some changes tomorrow.”
The sluggish batting of Shakib, Mushfiq, and Riyad in this sporting wicket can be another reason for this defeat. Shakib was looking for runs but unable to score quickly. He just got dismissed for 20 runs off 28 balls hitting only one four.
Mushfiq also played slowly and tried to accelerate the score with his scoop but got bowled out. When the required run rate was almost 10 runs per over, the skipper couldn’t change his gear.
The skipper about their batsmen said, “We didn’t deliberately bat slowly. We couldn’t hit those boundaries. We have to bat better next time. A lot of things will come up since we lost the game. I think we didn’t play well today, but we are a good T20 team. We have the capability. When we play our best cricket, we can win games.”
No matter how fans try to explain their defeat, they just lost the game and forced themselves to fight for the second position of the group table. Scotland just made an upset beating Bangladesh by six runs in the T20 World Cup opener. Let’s hope for the best.